Jennie’s Nicaraguan Adventure Part 2

The weekends at Costadulce seem a bit like the changing of the guard as guests come and go. Sunday's class with Ronnie was an intimate one - only two of us. In savasana he played his guitar for us. After, Ronnie and I exchanged yoga stories and teaching tips. In response to a few things I shared with him about my life, he proclaimed that I was the randomest person he had ever met - in a good way!

For several nights Maumau has kept me company at night, snuggling up with me on my bed. There are lots of cats and dogs here, all of whom are friendly, and who sometimes join us for yoga. The other day Sam's dog Lassie stood by her mat before class and demonstrated downward dog.

 At first I thought there was a dead leaf on my chair, but when I went to flick it off discovered this little creature. I took the chair outside, and eventually it left. When we went on the boat trip, Gabrielle discovered one on the lifejacket she was about to put on...

  This morning we left Costadulce at 6 a.m. and drove south to the little fishing town of  El Ostional, which is close to the border with Costa Rica. From there we took a boat to look for sea turtles. There were many vultures sunning themselves on the beach. Casidhe, Dora and Danielle Casidhe and Danielle, the two  women who travelled on the same plane as me from Toronto, from Sharbot Lake and Kingston, and Dori, from San Diego, were on the boat trip.

After going along a gorgeous coast with beautiful deserted beaches, we headed out in search for sea turtles. At first we saw a few, and then more and more, until we saw some 30-50 sea turtles. We put on flippers and goggles and jumped out of the boat to swim among the sea turtles. What an incredible experience! The most abundant of all sea turtles in the world, this turtle is found in warm and tropical waters, primarily in the Pacific and Indian Oceans.  Their carapace is olive green, heart-shaped and rounded. Globally they have declined by more than 30% within one generation, ie. twenty years. They are best known for their unique synchronized mass nesting called arribadas , where thousands of females come together on the same beach where they were hatched to lay their eggs. They are believed to use the coastal waters of over 80 countries.  They lay their eggs in conical nest about 1.5 ft. deep, which they laboriously dig with their hind flippers. There are...

After swimming with the sea turtles, we headed back to a beautiful beach which we swam to and explored, and went to another spot to snorkel, but the water was not very clear, so we didn't see much, just sea urchins and a few fish. Then we were treated to the most delicious ceviche they prepared in the boat for us, with fresh lime and passion fruit juice, served in a hollowed out pineapple with plátano chips. Green Turtle (photo from National Wildlife Federation) From there we started to head back, when a pair of green sea turtles (Chelonia Mydas) suddenly appeared on the port side, and our guide Alex told us it was turtle sexy time - the two were mating. An endangered species, we all cheered them on. Green sea turtles can reach three to four feet in length and weigh upward of 300 to 350 pounds (126-159 kilograms). Once a green sea turtle hatches and heads into the ocean, it rarely returns to land. Instead it feeds on offshore plant blooms around islands and beaches. Green sea turtl...

Tim the Turtle man is passionate about his project, and shared a wealth of information with us in his talk. The nursery currently holds about 4000 turtle eggs, of three of the four species found in this area - the more common Olive Ridley sea turtles (vulnerable), one nest of green sea turtles (endangered), and one nest of the critically endangered Hawksbill sea turtles. The statistics on world population of these sea turtles vary but are stunningly low: according to Tim, there are only 20,000 nesting female Hawksbills and 40,000 nesting female green sea turtles.  The Olive Ridley sea turtles, the most abundant, have about 800,000 nesting females in the wild, but previously there were more than ten million in the Pacific Ocean alone, with only 15% left compared to 60 years ago. The large decreases in their population are because they have been harvested for their meat, eggs and skin. Sea turtles are the living representatives of a group of reptiles that has exis...

 

A good traveller has no fixed plans and is not intent on arriving. - Lao Tzu

This afternoon I went down to do some more boogie board surfing and chatted with Marcia, the woman on duty watching the sea turtles. A little later a guy approached me in the water to let me know that she was looking for me. She had 29 little turtles ready to release! I didn't think this trip could get any better, then more turtle magic! What an incredibly special moment to share with Marcia. And they are off to the races! . This poor little guy was left way behind As you can see, they are tiny!